Many forms of bale loaders have previously been proposed. Such loaders generally have forks or the like which engage a bale, the forks being movable to lift the bale to a desired position. However, most such loaders have difficulty in coping with the wide variety of non-uniform round hay bales. Further, because of the need to move a bale from the ground onto a cradle of a feeding machine, for example, a number of different movements are necessary and known loaders are therefore relatively complex and expensive.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,336 I have described a bale loader with a pair of arms carrying a transfer platform with bale-engaging tynes. A hydraulic cylinder moves the platform from an upright, loading position to a lifted position and a further cylinder lifts the platform and arms to discharge the hay bale onto a feeder. A disadvantage of this arrangement is that the second cylinder must move the total load comprising the arms, platform and hay bale thereon. Further, because hay bales vary greatly in shape and construction, and in weight, it is difficult to accurately predict when a bale may actually be discharged. A sliding carriage on the arms assists in ensuring that the bale is discharged at a predetermined time during pivotal movement of the arms although the bale may have already moved from the loader prior to movement of the carriage.
It is therefore an object to provide and improved bale loader which obviates at least some of the disadvantages of known loaders.
It is also desirable to provide an improved bale loader which is able to lift a bale from the ground and load the bale into the cradle of a feeding machine.
It is also desirable to provide an improved bale loader which is relatively simple in construction and is economical to manufacture.
It is also desirable to provide an improved bale loader which has minimum moving parts.
It is also desirable to provide an improved bale loader which is of rugged construction and is able to easily withstand the rigors of hay bale handling.